Tuesday, December 19, 2017

WaPo to “zero-tolerance” Dems: Good for you. Now do Menendez

Maybe Al Franken won’t be the biggest loser from Alabama’s special election. Even before Capitol Hill Democrats got a workout from patting each other on the backs for Doug Jones’ victory in Alabama, Washington Post editor James Downie issued a challenge to their newfound outrage over unseemliness in public officials. Now that Al Franken and John Conyers have gotten the boot, Downie argues that it’s time to push Robert Menendez out the door too:

Democrats should not wait for a new jury or Ethics Committee investigation: The known facts are damning enough for them to demand Menendez’s resignation. …

Some of the alleged favors for Melgen were relatively small potatoes, such as securing visas for Melgen’s girlfriends. In one case, Menendez’s then-chief of staff wrote that the visas were approved “only due to the fact that R.M. intervened.” Other favors were far bigger. He asked the State Department to assist Melgen in a dispute over a $500 million contact with the Dominican government. The New Jersey senator also allegedly pressured the Department of Health and Human Services to resolve a $9 million billing dispute in Melgen’s favor. In testimony, then-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described an “unusual” meeting with Menendez and Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). “I understood he wanted me to do something,” she said. (It should be noted that Melgen has been convicted of 67 charges of Medicare fraud. Prosecutors estimate that the doctor’s scheme swindled the government out of as much as $105 million.) In no way is this conduct becoming of a senator.